Travels of the Ter-Barb Part 4
TerBarb South Part 4
Photo of the Ter-Barb from 2006
Dec 6, 2007 Woke up this morning to howling 30 mph winds, with gusts to 40 mph. Needless to say, we do have a brain, well sometimes, we decided to stay where we are for the day. It is only about 1 ½ hours to Charleston, but we need to cross an inlet and with all of our covers we would be heeling like a sailboat under full sail in these winds. Isle of Palm is an island between the ICW and the ocean, so walked the 3 blocks over to view the beaches. Surprise, no one was on the beach and especially no one was in the water. We also walked through Wild Dunes. This is a condo community with quite a few docks, so of course we walked all the docks. By the way, we have on winter jackets, hats and gloves.
Dec. 7, 2007 to Charleston, SC
Cold overnight, but at least the wind has died down. We head to Charleston and today the inlet is flat. Yea!! After we are secured on the long dock that they use for travelers, we catch the van the marina provides to go into Charleston. Walking along the boardwalk on the Cooper River we can see the channel that we crossed just a few hours ago. We then walked along East Bay Avenue admiring the "Rainbow houses" and the older homes that were built back in the early 1800 with all of the balconies and wrap around porches. There are horse drawn carriages throughout town and shuttles offering guided tours and a lot of restaurants along with the slave market with women weaving grass baskets. Today it is 60 degrees. Hopefully, we are reaching warmer weather.
Dec 8, 2007 & Dec. 9, 2007 Beaufort, SC
It is a long ride today over 7 hours. We cross the Ashley river and go under the Mark Clark Bridge and then under the James Island Bridge with some light fog. Continuing through Elliot Cut (this is like traveling through someones back yard).; It is very narrow and has docks on both sides. We have traveled about 6 miles and right now the fog is soooo thick that it is difficult to see the flag on the bow. At red marker #36 we anchor at the edge of the channel for about 45 minutes until the fog lifts. We are stemming a strong current the entire trip, but once the fog lifts it turns into a beautiful day. Dolphins are traveling with us on and off all day. They jump in front of our bow and then the ride our side wash. Down the Wadmalaw River, continuing first on the North Edisto then the South Edisto, through the Ashepoo Coosaw cutoff and then 10 miles on the Coosaw River and then through the Brickyard. The Brickyard is narrow, twisty and prone to shoaling. Of course, it is dead low tide when we go through this area. Saturday night is the lighted Christmas boat parade. Some very nicely decorated boats and there are about 20 boats in the parade.
Finally on Sunday it is warm 78 degrees. This is why we travel south!! We borrowed the courtesy car to go to the food store bread and milk. Tiger likes milk!!!! And we need to keep him happy. At 3 pm today Beaufort has there street Christmas parade and every Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop within 100 miles must be in the parade along with the Marine Corp Band from Parris Island and the local high school bands. It also includes decorated golf cart floats from every business in town, clowns, and of course Mrs. Clause and Santa. Later that evening (5 pm) the Marine Corp Band put on a Christmas concert in the park next to the marina.
Dec. 10, 2007 To Thunderbolt, GA
Well, we were up early, but Mother Nature decided to make it a foggy morning. Our 7:30 am departure time was delayed until 9:30 am and we still run into patchy dense fog as we approach Port Royal Sound. During our delay we meet Tom and Lynn Miller aboard My Vette. They lived in Hatboro PA and were members of Bristol YC prior to moving to Florida. The knew Fred & Carol Swain, Jack & Dottie Peel, Charlie and Ethel Worthington, Eric & Dale Straw, and Chuck and Diane and some of the "older" as in long time members of Bristol YC. We had a nice morning. Port Royal Sound in calm and flat (though foggy) and it is a beautiful travel day. There are some places along the ICW where we could use a little more water i.e., Walls Cut and Fields Cut 2/3 feet. We cross the Savannah River and travel down the Wilmington River to Thunderbolt. Once in the Wilmington River we get behind a tug pushing a barge very slowly. We are doing 4-5 mph, one engine is not in gear and we are still catching up to the tug. The tide is extremely low all the rivers and sounds are low. This part of the country needs rain desperately. Low tide is really low tide.
Dec 11, 2007 to Kilkenny, GA
Again we leave very late 10:30 am. It is only 32 miles to Kilkenny, but again we have dense fog. It is like looking through pea soup. The weather is warm (80 degrees), but the water temperatures are in the 60, therefore it gets foggy around midnight and it hangs in until about 10-11 am each morning. We are again in an enclosed area, high banks on each side and/or marsh areas. Of course the winds are calm. Kilkenny Marina is approximately 2 miles off the ICW and is rustic, but fuel is usually less expensive at this stop ($3.29, most marinas are selling fuel for $3.59/gallon). It is a "good ole boys" stop. They have a lot of small boats that they put in and take out daily. There are also large tanks with live bait available for purchase that they pump sea water into on a constant basis. The docks are only 4 foot wide and there are no cleats. A 2"x10" piece of wood sticking up about 1 foot is nailed on the face of the dock. This is what you tie up too. An interesting set up and it actually works well. We are the only boat tied up for the night, except for a shrimp boat which came in around 8 pm and left at 6 am.
Dec 12,2007 To Golden Isle Marina, St. Simon, Ga
Today will be another long ride as we will be covering over 66 miles and crossing quite a few sounds. Again, we need to wait for the fog to clear. It lifts for 15-20 minutes and then it returns thick as ever. It finally clears in Kilkenny Creek at 9:15 am and by 9:30 we are underway. About ½ hour later we approach St. Catherine Sound. You guessed it!! Dense fog!! We use the GPS and our MapTech program is guide us across the sound. In the fog a small (14 foot) boat, with guys fishing cross our bow. St. Catherine Sound is only 2 miles across which makes a fun start for the day. The rest of the day is sunny and warm. We open up the entire boat all the windows and hatches, and all the curtains on the bridge. We cross Sapelo Sound, Doboy Sound, Buttermilk Sound to the Hampton River and the Mackey River. Luckily all of the sounds are calm and for the most part flat. Golden Isle Marina is off the ICW on the back side of Lanier Island, so you pass sit, head into St. Simon Sound and then cruise up the back side of the island. During our run today we passed Tom and Lynn Miller the couple we met in Beaufort who were members of Bristol. We had a nice chat as we cross Sapelo Sound.
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